Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Guest from the Right: T. Paine

A Presidential Election Post-Mortem Analysis

"These are the times that try men's souls," so wrote the great man from whom I borrowed my nom de plume, Thomas Paine, in his entreaty The American Crisis. It would seem that we have nearly come full circle once again into trying times that threaten our very liberties. Instead of King George III though, this time it is in the guise of a majority of the American people themselves that are bound and determined to destroy what is left of our nation in hopes of obtaining more of the tax payer's lucre for themselves.

Everybody and their mangy cur dogs have put in their two cents as to why Obama won re-election and why the Republicans faired so poorly. I decided to wait a week or so before doing my post-mortem on the election debacle so that I could be more objective in my analysis and not let my fear, frustration, and deep concern overly color what would likely have been a much more emotional response from me otherwise had I done so on the day right afterwards.

That said, I have read what many of the pundits, bloggers, and political insiders have had to say regarding the reasons for the Democrats’ success. Typically there is indeed some truth in what each one had to offer as for the reasons, and yet nobody quite captured the real bottom line answer; at least not to my mind.

Was Romney the strongest conservative candidate? No way! Did Republicans reach out to Hispanics as well as they could have? Not even. Did Hurricane Sandy help Obama by giving him a chance to “look presidential” and thus save the day and cause the despicable Chris Matthews to give thanks for the storm accordingly? Undoubtedly so. Did many hard core conservatives and fundamentalist Christians stay home on election day. For certain many did. Were Libertarians and disaffected conservatives upset with the “moderation” of our presidential candidate and not vote for Romney accordingly. Yes, and I know too many friends and acquaintances that fall into this category. Did Obama and his surrogates lie and demagogue unabashedly regarding Romney and his policies and past. You betcha, and some of the more candid Democrats even admitted this. Did the sycophantic statist media all but ignore the highly troubling issues such as the death of four Americans in Libya that Obama could have prevented and the entire Fast and Furious program? Disgustingly, yes they did. Did Romney lay out a specific plan that was attacked by the left, while Obama’s platform was more vague and offered just more of the same? Of course. Did voter fraud on behalf of the left help Obama. Almost certainly so; particularly in areas around Philadelphia where in 59 different districts not a single solitary vote went to Romney. (A nearly 20,000 to 0 edge for Obama was the result there.)

All of the above did indeed play roles in the results of the final tally, but no one issue in and of itself captured the real reason why Obama and the Democrats soundly defeated Romney and the conservatives on November 6th. I would submit it is something greater and more insidious because the root is now so entrenched in the American electorate. The real reason that Obama won is because people today are ignorant. I don’t use that term as a pejorative but rather as a definitive term that describes the root problem. Most Americans today are not familiar with our history as a nation. They are unfamiliar with our Constitution and the necessity of the rule of law in abiding by its dictates and defending those rights for us laid out within. Most Americans are unfamiliar with basic economics. They are too caught up in their day to day lives to let their own common sense prevail and tell them what they should already know. Basically it all boils down to the inarguable fact that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Somebody has to pay for that. The bottom line is that with a majority of Americans’ overwhelming ignorance comes their desire to get something for nothing.

Romney was scourged during the campaign for decrying the fact that 47% of Americans are dependent upon government and net benefactors of the tax payers accordingly. The media and the Democrats (but I repeat myself) used that comment to mercilessly attack Romney as cruel and uncaring. Now granted, there are significant portions of that 47% that are retirees living on Social Security, military retirees living on their government pensions, and those small few that are genuinely unable to work that are dependent upon our tax payer funded safety net. Many of the others though are capable people that are simply wanting to take all that they can get from Uncle Sam. They want something for nothing… and their chicks for free, I suspect.

John Kennedy famously asked during his inaugural address in 1961, “My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” Nearly 52 years later, a majority of Americans and seemingly all Democrats are asking what the country can do for them, and to hell with what a person can do for the country or their fellow Americans. The mindset has totally changed. Government, instead of providing only necessary functions as specifically outlined in the Constitution, is now looked to for support and the solving of nearly any problem one encounters daily. No longer is there a sense of personal responsibility and rugged individualism. Instead there is a desire to grow an already overbearing nanny state so that one’s needs and desires can be taken care of by the “greedy and evil rich” in this country.

This means that for this problem to be fixed, Americans must learn exactly what it means to be an American once again. The progressive and often incompetent teachers unions have done us no favors in this regard. History and civics have been replaced with revisionist and politically correct diatribes of our past. The importance of voting for candidates that respect and will defend our constitution is an amusing and archaic notion, if it is even considered at all. And this has metastasized into the problem it has because parents typically are aloof or disconnected from their kids and the quality of the education they are receiving. They are unaware or don’t care enough over the last two generations that we are raising a country of whining and ignorant people that want to be taken care of rather than being strong and self-sufficient.

The culture as promulgated by many of our movies and music also reflects this ignorance and further entrenches us into this selfish “gimmee mine” nation that we have become. Unfortunately it has now manifested itself by how a majority of us vote.

I have seen many of the left cheer and jeer that “their side” won the election and that we conservatives should just buck up and deal with it. To many of them, it was a triumph of party politics. To me, and I dare say to many conservatives, it was not a loss for the often incompetent or corrupt Republicans but rather a loss of American ideals. We cannot afford to continue on with the spending that Obama and the progressives of both parties have saddled us with over the last decade in particular. We cannot and should not be funding more entitlements simply to further entrench Americans in their dependency upon government. It is not mere political hyperbole when I say that I fear for the end of America in Obama’s next term. Our spending is unsustainable. We are foolish if we think we can continue unabated. There will be consequences to printing or digitizing our currency by the Federal Reserve. There will be consequences for the usurpation of our God-given rights as codified in our Constitution.

Many Americans are very afraid what the next few years hold in store for us. It is not a matter of if we can wait until 2016 to try again with a better conservative candidate for president. The fear is that there won’t be a recognizable America left by 2016. I noticed yesterday that petitions for secession from the union have been started in 31 states thus far. This fear is real and almost palpable. America has never been so dangerously divided amongst its people. The only solution is to clearly articulate our philosophies as grounded in our history and constitution, and to do it continuously until it seeps into the very fabric of the American culture. We must do so NOW in our classrooms, from our pulpits, and throughout our culture so that we can change this seemingly inexorable tide of selfishness and desired dependence that we have fomented within our population. If we fail to do so starting right now, it won’t be the feckless Republican party that will perish. It will be far more destructive to humanity and freedom than that. It will be the end of the United States of America.

I find the petitions for secession hilarious. I agree with you that the majority of Americans are ignorant, they have no clue about what the government does for them on a daily basis, go ahead and secede, it'll be a real eye opener for them. I think the reason Republicans lost is they put all the blame on the lower and middle class, minorities and women, while once again the real "takers" are blameless.Takers like the 6 Walton heirs, they take and take and do nothing except peddle their Chinese trash.

Obama would have won without Christie and Sandy, sorry, he was always ahead, just not on FOX.

Thanks for such a cogent and clear analysis, Thomas.In 2008 a video showed little school kids being led in song singing Obama's praise. One part was:"We're gonna spread happinessWe're gonna spread freedomObama's gonna change itObama's gonna lead 'em." Many were quite alarmed at the way parents used little kids to sing sycophantically about a political figure, much in the manner of songs to Adolph and the NorK’s Dear Leader. I, though, was disgusted. Even then I knew Obama was a man-child, a lazy shill propped up by guilt ridden, self loathing whites. He could not lead a parade if he walked at the head of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. His “leadership” has been characterized by buffoonery, bumbling, embarrassments, and mis-steps. What truly disgusted me was that society had fallen so low as to think that it was a good thing to sing such praises of a self-described failure, a man whose path in life and career was strewn with petals of false praise, which he believes whole heartedly, and that so many voted with such enthusiasm and glee for such an incompetent. For the future, the secession movement is a sad indicator of where much of the country stands. Obama’s win was very slight. A few things going differently (no Paulist sitouts, no Sandi, a real news media) would have given us a different result. However, I will not abandon the country to the statists and tsarists. Now I look for the targets of media and DNC attack (i.e. Rubio and that idiot’s question about the age of the earth) and will put them into the file for later candidacy consideration. I would like to see the RNC, or someone, start a series of PSAs on TV that simply educate the populace about American values and ideals. We surely do not get those watching American Idol or Survivor, unless maybe they do a Survivor: Staten Island. Blogs have a role in facilitating this education. Hillsdale College’s online course on the Constitution is worth every moment of time to take. Recent bios of Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Washington are also worth the time to read and give great insight into the actual events that shaped the founding of the nation. I have hope. Not witless Obama style hope, but hope based on the reality that, as things get worse, and they will under this wrecking crew now firmly in charge, clear minded American people will devise a way to avoid doom, and we may well come out even better than we dare imagine.

Obama showed more leadership after Sandy in ONE day then 8 years of true Bush "buffoonery". Stop lying, stop whining and to quote your favorite drugster, Shut-up!

We've already been thru doom with Bush, that's why we re-elected Obama. As I listened to Obama answering questions a few days ago, I thanked God. Thank you God for a president who has a brain, speaks eloquently and can actually answer a question without stuttering and lying.

Great post, Thomas Paine. My sentiments mirror Rickvid in Seattle's excellent comments.Now and then I have some hope for Enemas, then he comes up with ignorent, union propaganda drivel like "takers like the 6 Walton heirs".

SHUT UP! DON'T TALK! YOU PEOPLE JUST DON'T REALIZE HOW WONDERFUL HE IS! YOU GET HIS LOVE AND BLESSING AND, AND, AND, THEN YOU JSUT SPEW HATE! JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc

Rickvid, your comments are dead on accurate, sir. I also thoroughly concur with your assessment of the Hillsdale College course on the constitution. It is free and should be required for every high school history student to take, and their parents too, for that matter.

That is how we are going to return our country to the constitutional representative republic our founders intended it to be. The largely corrupt and inept teachers unions and the aloof and disconnected parents have brought us nothing but several generations of complete ignorance now. If we don’t turn the tide, America will just continue to vote for more goodies from the treasury and make sure that the evil rich pay for it. Never mind that middle class folks like me are now the “evil rich” evidently. The fact that we are on the edge of the abyss doesn’t seem to matter to these fools. It is akin to the union idiots striking themselves right out of a place to work at Hostess. My only surprise was the Obama didn’t nationalize Hostess and give all of the company’s assets to the unions like he did with GM.

Oh, and by the way, Anonymous, you are absolutely entitled to your opinion and I have and will fight for your right to say it. That said, you are a fool and part of the damned problem, my friend.

Constitution needs an update. This document written by slave owning, diseased, old fashioned men for their time. It is not perfect but can be if we update it every few years. Slave clauses come to mind as a great update that was fixed.

You still don't get it.

Nothing has changed over the last 4 years and nothing will change over the next 8 unless some kind of scientific breakthrough happens. Clinton rode the Dot.com bubble, Bush had to respond to 9/11 and that burst the bubble. Obama has nothing and no president can create bubble or burst them. Romney "looks" like a step backwards Obama is just a flat line.

Socially we are living more free than ever just ask Chely Wright or her wife.

Anon, your foolishness is on display again. Did you get that horse crap from Howard Zinn in school? He and others like him, the crown of scum who proclaim that the world would be better off if America had never existed, spew the lies and distortions you seem to favor. Well, you are over and again demonstrably an idiot, cannot seem to come up with facts or details, and peddle untruths like a street corner whore peddling her syphilitic gash in Shanghai. I doubt even Nate or Jim concur with most of your inane prattle. Sad, boy, very sad.

Enemas:Sadly, there have been ignorant and stupid fools throughout history. Even more sadly, it looks like you and your ilk will never fade away. While real education is helpful, a fool remains a fool no matter how literate he becomes. The stupid are hopeless because they cannot even be educated.

Anonymous, it is exceptionally dangerous to "update" the Constitution every few years as you proposed. The Founders specifically made it difficult to amend the Constitution for "light and transient reasons" so that it would not become some meaningless document that was defined by the whims of the day and whomever was currently in power. Unfortunately we have too many people, both Republicans and Democrats, that simply ignore the Constitution today. That is particularly true of our current Dear Leader who simply ignores it or issues executive orders to illegally circumvent it.

I think we would be far better off as a nation if we would try something different. Perhaps we should actually follow the Constitution and impeach every last damned politician that violates their oath to protect and defend it.

Crabby, you are absolutely correct, sir. I have met many a person that has been educated far beyond their intelligence level in the past. Unfortunately too many of these "educated" people are also our elected officials.